Robert C. Byrd was one of the greatest politicians this nation, let alone West Virginia, has ever seen.
I am fascinated by his work, what he did and how he died.
He was born in North Carolina, Wilkesboro and was born on November 20, 1917.
He was born as Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr. His mother was happy as could be but about a year later she died in the flu epidemic that was taking over the nation at that time. Before dying she wished that Byrd should to go live with his relatives Vlurma and Titus who happened to be their cousins. So he was shipped to his relatives who renamed him Robert Carlyle Byrd since they were adopting him.
Byrd was a model student and hard worker. He went to Sunday school and learned to play the fiddle which he kept with him at all times. He eventually went to to the Mark Twain high school where he graduated with honors and won valedictorian. He did not take part in World War 2, so he did odd jobs to raise money for himself to go to college. Unfortunately Byrd did not get money so he joined the Ku Klux Klan. He joined it thinking that it was a money- making organization and said that during his time period there they did not commit any murders that he knew about. Byrd later described this as “one of the biggest mistakes in my life.” He eventually left because he craved going back to politics so he quit the Klan and went back to politics.Ironically his membership to the KKK helped push him into politics. He was encouraged by the Grand Dragon, The leader of the KKK. “He ran for WV on the Democratic Ticket for the house of delegates. While away he carried his fiddle with him everywhere (this would later get him noticed). He won in 1944 and from that moment on would never lose another election ever again.“1946- E...
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...Unfortunately for Byrd and others his wife did not make it long enough to see that day because she died on March 25, 2006 from “a protracted illness.”
Byrd, on the topic of his wife’s death, said “"My only regret is that my beloved wife, companion and confidant, my dear Erma, is not here with me," he said. "I know that she is looking down from the heavens smiling at me and saying, 'Congratulations my dear Robert—but don't let it go to your head.‘”
Byrd died on “June 18,2010, at the age of 92.”
In his lifetime he: “was the highest- ranking Senator in the Majority Party, known as President as Pro Tempore, served as the senior member of the senate Appropriations Committee, was the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittees, and had cast more than 18,689 roll call votes- more than any other senator. He even has a 97 percent attendance record out of 50 years!”
After Lincoln’s death in 1865, Andrew Johnson turned Reconstruction on its head. He made several changes to the Reconstruction policy, nearly cutting Congress off completely from the process. Johnson began putting white supremacists in power of the Reconstruction governments. This began a chain of events that led to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the end of the biracial democracy in the south. Johnson put pro-Union Southern political leaders into power, even though many had aided the Confederacy during the war. These men, with Johnson's support, attempted ...
First, I will discuss his background, which started when he was born on April 16, 1931 in McCracken County Kentucky. His parents were Elvie B. and Eva Heady Carroll. His father was a farmer and a tractor implement salesman, he also owned a garage. In 1937, the family moved to Heath Kentucky he attended Heath high school and was later elected student body president. After graduating high school Senator Carroll attended Paducah Junior College. In 1951, he and his girlfriend Charlann Harting were married and started their family of what would eventually be four children. One year later he graduated from Paducah Junior College with an associate of arts degree.
They thought they were lesser people and deserved to go back to slavery. Colby later wrote in his testimony to the House, “Some are first-class men in or town. One is a lawyer, one a doctor, and some are farmers… They said I had voted for Grant and had carried the Negroes against them (Doc B).” Colby is again talking about the KKK and what they said to him that night. This quote describes the actions of those rich white men. Why else would they act out like that? They gained power by terrorizing the voters. In the Independent Monitor, on September 1, 1868, there was an image depicting the democratic KKK hanging carpetbaggers (Picture in Doc A). The term “Carpetbaggers” means a Northerner heading South after the Civil War. They usually took important offices and tried to get rid of slavery. That angered the South and the KKK. Though some Northerners had bad perspectives on the Freedmen in the South, so did the people in the South. There is an image about the South Carolina State Legislature during Reconstruction (Picture in Doc D) that shows the African Americans arguing , while the white senators look angry and frustrated with them. Their faces show they are haughty and are looking down upon the newly elected African American senators. This shows they think they are better than
After the war he befriended with Ulysses S. Grant and joined the Republican party. He was criticized by former confederates for losing the war and befriending with Grant and the Republican party. He served as Grants minister to Turkey. He also became a political apostate in the south. Later he served as a commissioner of the Pacific Railroads from eighteen ninety seven to nineteen o four. In the summer of nineteen o four he became very ill and was diagnosed with Rheumatism. His ear was also damaged and was forced to use an ear horn when spoken to. He traveled to Chicago for a cancerous right eye, his weight dropped from two hundred pounds to one hundred thirty five pounds.
As the leader of the ARU he organized a successful strike against the Chicago Pullman Palace Car. Because of his strong leadership skills he gained popularity. He ran for president five times losing all elections.
He was the one who asked Congress to pass a law that would make Native Americans move west or follow state laws. After the act was passed, he embarked on enforcing the new law. He thinks this is just and liberal. Also, that it would let Native Americans keep their way of life. He is such a big supporter that he ignored the Supreme Court’s advice.
...on helped pass the Agricultural Labor Relations Act in California, the only law in the nation that protects the rights of farm laborers to unionize. But more than anything, I believe, his contribution to society has been his legacy of service to others and the commitment to social justice for communities fighting against inequalities.
Mr. Smith was appointed to be a Senator on a whim. He was the leader of the Boy Rangers with no political experience. He was principled with a clear view on right and wrong. Mr. Smith took his ideals as far as risking his career when he did not compromise in order to maintain his beliefs. In addition, special interest groups did not impact Mr. Smith's decisions. He was untouched by the corruption that he learned existed in the legislature. Yet upon discovering it, he did not change himself. Mr. Smith did not place any emphasis on re-election and did not care if people thought negatively about him as long as he remained with his values.
The funeral was supposed to be a family affair. She had not wanted to invite so many people, most of them strangers to her, to be there at the moment she said goodbye. Yet, she was not the only person who had a right to his last moments above the earth, it seemed. Everyone, from the family who knew nothing of the anguish he had suffered in his last years, to the colleagues who saw him every day but hadn’t actually seen him, to the long-lost friends and passing acquaintances who were surprised to find that he was married, let alone dead, wanted to have a last chance to gaze upon him in his open coffin and say goodbye.
“Thus had died and been laid to rest in the most quiet, unostentatious way the most useful and distinguished woman America had yet produced,” (Wilson, Pg. 342).
Obama starts his eulogy by naming off his family, guests, and the folks at home watching along with a goodbye to Ted. The introduction starts off with “Today we say goodbye to the youngest child or Rose and Joseph Kennedy” (2). Obama joins in this time of mourning in order to help the Kennedy family that “the world will long remember their son as the heir to a weighty legacy” (2). With
United States Senate. “Lyndon Baines Johnson.” U.S. & Senate: Art and History. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Lyndon_Johnson.htm (accessed May 2, 2014).
The Reconstruction period was from 1865 to 1877 after the Civil War, which ended in the year of 1865. The purpose of the Reconstruction Era was to increase the number of slaves to freedom. However, the trial of James Byrd proves the problems caused by slavery and the Civil War was not fixed. The KKK members believe that just because they are white that they are above all other races. Therefore, three guys that believe in white supremacy dragged James Byrd across the cement as he was tied up to their car. James Byrd’s trial was after his death in 1998. Also, these three men were involved in his murder. Furthermore, two ended up being sentenced to death and one was sentenced to prison. The problems of the Reconstruction are still not fixed ‘till
The. Historically, democratic representatives display more favor in continuing or increasing these expenditures for assistance programs. West Virginia’s voting for state and Congressional representatives has been overwhelmingly democratic since the 1960’s. For example, the late, great Robert C. Byrd was a democratic US Senator from 1959 to 2010. His efforts to bring pork barrel spending and ear marks to benefit his represented citizens was the understood methodology of his incumbency.
Not only was he able to lead an army, but he was the leader of the movement that led the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He gave support to new Constitutions and leaders of many meetings. Once the constitution was finally revised, he was the presidential candidate that won 69 electoral